A range of new ideas are teed up for public comment on the fate of the Port Townsend Golf Course.

Stakeholders for the project met Tuesday, Dec. 20  to discuss design ideas and how they’d be presented at the upcoming open house on the Port Townsend Golf Course and Mountain View Commons Concept Planning Effort. That meeting is set for 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 11 at the Fort Worden Commons.

“We need to manage all the property in the most efficient way for everyone,” said Carrie Hite, director of Parks and Recreation Strategy for the city of Port Townsend.

This planning effort began in early 2020 following the development of the Parks, Recreation, and Open Space Plan which showed the community’s desire to explore different uses for the golf course property owned by the city.

In November 2020, the city council unanimously directed staff to engage the community to explore the feasibility of alternate uses, in addition to continued use for golf.

While the topic has been seen on yard signs and public letters, the upcoming open house will be the first time a sample this large has been taken on public opinion.

“The intention for the meeting is for us to hear from the community priorities,” said Rebecca Kimball from the city’s Parks, Recreation, Trees and Trails Advisory Board.

The longest stretch of the stakeholder meeting was devoted to a discussion of presentation boards designed to help communicate possibilities and gain feedback.

These boards included an in-depth look at the course including topographical maps showing usable areas for buildings.

Over 65 percent of the golf course has slopes greater than 5 percent which would create much greater difficulty for construction, said Chris Jones, founder of Groundswell, the landscape architecture firm hired by the city.

Another presentation board was designed to show three examples of golf courses that have already been or are in the process of being converted to parks, with one of the examples including a large structure mixed in for housing.

To gauge public opinion and invite more ideas, there will also be a series of boards with options for the public to mark multiple ideas they’re in favor of, such as housing, community gardens, a disc golf course, public art, keeping the golf course with nine holes, plus space to add new ideas.

There will also be a survey posted online once the event begins where those who cannot attend in person will have a chance to have their voices heard.

Tim Caldwell, representing the Port Townsend Golf Club, noted that there did not seem to be a presentation of what the golf course could look like if the city decides to spend the $935,000 to
$1.2 million the National Golf Foundation’s study estimated it would cost to bring it up to standard and become a viable golf course.

“It sounds to me we’re meeting with a lot of repurposing of the course,” Caldwell said.